Politics

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 10:58 UTC

  HMS Illustrious helicopter carrier begins intensive training following major refit

  

  Fresh from a £40m refit the Royal Navy helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious has begun two months of intensive training off the south coast of Britain. Once the training is completed, the Portsmouth-based warship will be the UK’s on-call helicopter carrier, ready for global missions.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 10:45 UTC

  After seven years of negotiations Obama signs US/Colombia trade agreement

  

  President Barack Obama signed into law the free trade agreement with Colombia Friday, marking the end of seven years of legislative effort. Obama also signed similar trade agreements with Panama and South Korea. The US Congress sent the trade bills to Obama after ratifying the agreements October 12.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 10:37 UTC

  Hague calls on Tories not to vote for a referendum on UK remaining in the EU

  

  Foreign Secretary William Hague has urged Tory MPs not to vote for a referendum on the UK remaining in the EU, saying it would be a distraction.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 04:29 UTC

  “Closer political links with Brazil” can be expected if CFK is re-elected

  

  The most certain re-election of Cristina Fernandez as Argentina president on Sunday 23 October is expected to signal more intense and closer relations with Brazil, expanding to other foreign affairs issues and working on a shared international agenda according to analysts from both countries .

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 04:28 UTC

  Protestors march in Manhattan and camp before London’s St Paul cathedral

  

  Occupy Wall Street inspired protestors were on the move on Friday in two emblematic places of both New York and in London: in the financial heart of Manhattan and before St Paul’s Cathedral.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 04:27 UTC

  Unasur receives United Nations Observer Status

  

  The Union of South American Nations (Unasur) received the observer status in the UN General Assembly after the committee of judicial affairs of the organization unanimously approved its request.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 04:26 UTC

  CFK poised for landslide victory and control of the congress on Sunday

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez (CFK) should be comfortably re-elected Sunday with a landslide victory which according to the latest public opinion polls indicate a support ranging from 52% to 55%

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 04:23 UTC

  Bolivia’s Morales yields to Amazon Indian protests and scraps plan to build highway

  

  President Evo Morales said Friday that he was scrapping plans to build a highway through a nature reserve in Bolivia's jungle lowlands, bowing to public pressure after a two-month protest march by Amazon Indians.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 00:43 UTC

  Mercosur and EU will be ready to exchange trade proposals ‘in June 2012’

  

  Mercosur and the European Union are committed to presenting their proposals with list of products for a free trade agreement in June 2012, announced on Friday Uruguay’s Foreign Affaire minister Luis Almagro.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 00:42 UTC

  Doctor who warned of Chavez serious health condition abandons Venezuela with his family

  

  The Venezuelan doctor who forecast President Hugo Chavez had two years left because of the aggressiveness of his pelvic cancer said on Friday he had left the country with his family after colleagues reported police visiting his consultancy.